60 Minutes With Angus Young
60 Minutes With Angus Young
60 MINUTES WITH ANGUS YOUNG
In his 20-plus years with AC/DC, Angus Young hasn't played a single dishonest note. Young's execellence notwithstanding , some have accused his band of making the same album over and over-12 times to be exact.
"Thats a dirty lie!" Angus blurts, "The truth is that we've made the same album over and over 14 times!"
The ineffable Angus is the subject of this months "60 minutes" in which we pose the time honored question: "If you were sent to a deserted island and could only take one cassette's worth of music with you, what songs would you choose?" Not surprisingly, Young went right to the blues and early rock classics that have so heavenly influenced his own raucous style. Naturally the dimminutive god of blues rock also threw in a few curve balls into the mix.
"SCHOOL DAYS"
Chuck Berry
"We use to cover this one in the early days. I can still play a whole Chuck Berry album and get a kick out of it. A lot of people underate him, or say he won't tune his guitar. You have to have a spark, a little bit of magic that makes you stand out from the other guy. Usually, that magic comes from an accident-like a slightly out of tune guitar. There have been some great records made that way, believe me!"
"THE HUNTER"
Albert King
"You can always tell when somebody is really playing from the gut. You listen to this song and realize it's barley a three not solo, but it has that magic. I've tried to do that myself. where you just sit there on one note and make it breath
"MANNISH BOY"
Muddy Waters & Johnny Winter
"Anybody can play a basic blues tune; the secret to making it come alive is the intensity and feeling you put into it. A certain looseness helps too; you can't be a perfectionist on every little thing or you'll kill the spirit. These guys had that rough, raw edge that kept it from sounding fresh."
"COME TOGETHER"
The Beatles
"Even a great band like the Beatles goes off on a detour and does a bit of cabaret for awhile. But you find that the truly great ones always come back to playing real Rock n Roll. I thought this whole album got a bit glossed over at the time of its release."
"SAILIN' SHOES"
Little Feat
"They were a band with great rhythmic sence; you've got to have that swing. A lot of metal bands miss that and sound like German oom-pah sped up. Lowell[George] had the great sence of humor, including to poke fun at himself. Maintaining your sence of humor is so important-that abilty to laugh at yourself as well as the world around you keeps your energy flowing."
"HONKY TONK WOMEN"
The Rolling Stones
"Just listen to the opening chord in Honeky Tonk Women.' I've always admired someone like Keith Richards who, instead of playing six notes or shords, plays just one note and gets the same feeling across. Often, by simplifying you focus in on something and make it even better, more direct. I used to thrash away at 'Jumpim Jack Flash' as a kid and then ask my brother Malcolm 'what chord is that?' and he'd go 'Thats E and thats B, you play them all the bloddy time!' I wanted to be flash, so I started soloing before I learned the basic chords. When all my mates were goin for House Of The Rising Sun, I was goin for Purple Haze."
"WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN"
The Who
"Pete Townshend is another guy who can sit on one string or one chord and make something seemingly mundane thing come really alive. He use to play a very light SG, like I do. But he'd whack the SG and it would really move, and he'd stand there like a rock. Being a little guy, when I hit the SG it moves but I have no but to move with it [laughs] My brother George used to tell me if I fell all over the stage chasing my guitar, I should make it look like part of the act!"
"HAVE YOU EVER LOVED A WOMAN"
Derek & the Dominoes
"I know Van Halen is probably a genius, but he sounds like he practices. It's not just him and Steve Vai either; alot of thoes guys sound like they're practicing scales. And that's fine, but to me it becomes cold and plastic; you know its been rehearsed, Whereas when you listen to Eric Claptonm you feel that every note comes from the heart."
"BASIN ST. BLUES"
ST. JAMES INFIRMARY"
Louis Armstrong
"My sister took me to see him when I was a kid, and I still think he was one of the greatest musicians of all time. Especially when you listen to his old records, like these and hear the incredible musicanship and emotion comming out of his horn. And the technology in thoes days was almost non-exsistant; all the tracks had to be done in one take. I can picture him in that big football stadium where I saw him: he wasn't a big man, but when he played he seemed bigger then the stadium itself!"
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